Right-wing dictatorship


A right-wing dictatorship is an authoritarian regime following right-wing policies. There are various definitions of the term "rightist", the most common being "conservative" or "reactionary". Those are often to some degree pro-market in economic matters and conservative in social ones. The term fascist dictatorship is sometimes erroneously used interchangeably with right-wing dictatorship. It is commonly accepted that Nazi Germany and the Kingdom of Italy were ruled by fascist governments at some points of their history, but how it refers to other right-wing regimes is a question of further debate. The Estado Novo in Portugal was a right-wing dictatorship which was corporatist in nature. Most South American dictatorships during the second half of the 20th century were right-wing: Pinochet, the Brazilian military government, etc. There have also been a number of military dictatorships installed by anti-communists which were generally conservative and rightist.

Military government

In the most common Western view, the perfect example of a right-wing dictatorship is any of those that once ruled in South America. Those regimes were predominantly military juntas and most of them collapsed in the 1980s. Communist countries, which were very cautious about not revealing their authoritarian methods of rule to the public, were usually led by civilian governments and officers taking power were not much welcomed there. Few exceptions include the Burmese Way to Socialism, the Military Council of National Salvation or the North Korean regime's evolution throughout the rule of Kim Il-sung.

Religion and the government

Most right-wing regimes kept strong ties with local Churches. This policy of a strong Church-state alliance is usually referred to as Austrofascism. The most pro-Catholic dictatorships were Portugal and the Federal State of Austria. Non-Christian dictatorships include those in the Muslim world, the most famous being Iran since the revolution of 1979. There are several other examples of theocratic regimes in the region, like Somalia or Afghanistan under the Taliban. While it is unclear whether a monarchy could be called a dictatorship, theocratic absolute monarchies of Saudi Arabia or Vatican City share many similarities with the regimes mentioned above. Many of those are/were led by spiritual leaders and examples include the Slovak Republic under the Reverend Josef Tiso or Iran under the Ayatollahs Khomeini and Khamenei. Some right-wing dictatorships, like the Nazi Germany, were even openly hostile to certain religions.

Europe

List of European right-wing dictatorships

;Former
CountryHistorical nameMovementYears of ruleDictator
Principality of Albania, Albanian Republic, Albanian Kingdom-1922–1939Zog
Federal State of AustriaFatherland's Front1934–1938Engelbert Dollfuss, Kurt Schuschnigg
Republic of AzerbaijanNew Azerbaijan Party1993–presentHeydar Aliyev, Ilham Aliyev
Kingdom of Bulgaria
Independent State of CroatiaUstaše1941–1945Ante Pavelić
Republic of CyprusEOKA B1974Nikos Sampson
Republic of EstoniaPatriotic League1934–1940Konstantin Päts
French StateCollaborationist government1940–1944Philippe Pétain, Pierre Laval
Nazi GermanyNational Socialist German Workers' Party1933–1945Adolf Hitler
Republic of LatviaLatvian Farmers' Union 1934–1940Kārlis Ulmanis
Republic of LithuaniaLithuanian Nationalist Union1926–1940Antanas Smetona
Reichskommissariat NiederlandeNational Socialist Movement in the Netherlands1940–1945Anton Mussert
National GovernmentNasjonal Samling
1940–1945
Vidkun Quisling
Second Polish RepublicSanation1926–1939Józef Piłsudski and Piłsudski's colonels
Government of National Salvation-1941–1945Milan Nedić
First Slovak RepublicHlinka's Slovak People's PartyParty of Slovak National Unity1939–1945Jozef Tiso
Kingdom of Yugoslavia1929–1941

Asia

List of Asian former right-wing dictatorships

CountryHistorical nameMovementYears of ruleDictator
Kuomintang1928–1987
Republic of TurkeyRepublican People's Party1925–1945
Republic of IndonesiaGolkar1966–1998Suharto
Republic of Korea
Imperial with the Imperial Rule Assistance Association1940–1945Hirohito with Hideki Tojo
Manchuria, ChinaConcordia Association1932–1945Puyi with Zheng Xiaoxu and Zhang Jinghui
Khana Ratsadon1932–1957Plaek Phibunsongkhram
1968–1975Lon Nol